Border guards seize pot, art and weapons in November

A handgun, nine grams of marijuana, "nunchaku weapons" and nearly $20,000 worth of silk-screened artwork were among the items seized in separate incidents by Manitoba’s border guards in November.

The Canadian Border Services Agency said its Manitoba border crossings processed 214,600 people entering Canada last month, including 82,000 at the busiest crossing in Emerson.

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Vehicles line up at the Emerson border crossing in Manitoba.

Incidents at the Emerson crossing included the seizure of two "limited edition serigraph prints" that had been declared as having a value of $2,960.

Subsequent investigation by border guards determined the artwork, made by a silk-screening technique, had an actual value of $18,992, and the importer was fined $8,946.

On Nov. 21, Emerson guards seized a courier shipment headed to Calgary that contained four "nunchaku weapons," often known colloquially as "nunchucks." These weapons are prohibited for importing to Canada, the CBSA said.

The same day in Boissevain, border guards found nine grams of marijuana in the truck of two Manitoba men returning from a trip to North Dakota. The contraband was found in the truck’s tool box. The driver was arrested for smuggling prohibited goods into Canada.

At the Tolstoi border crossing on Nov. 29, guards found an unloaded 40 caliber pistol hidden behind the seats of a truck driven by two Nebraska residents. The weapon was seized, the driver was fined $1,000 and the pair was turned away from Canada.

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